Sunrise from Hand Island – photo by Ian Conarch
I just got back from a four-day kayak trip to the Broken Group, in Barkley Sound on the rugged west coast of Vancouver Island. What a great place to kayak! Dozens of islands and hundreds of rocks, beautiful Pacific waters, sea lions, deer, porpoises and whales (okay, we didn’t see any, but they’re there). What more could a paddler ask for?
One day my friend Lori went exploring on one of the islands without telling the rest of us in camp. After waiting awhile, I thought, what if she doesn’t come back? It would be a wonderful mystery! OK, sorry, Lori, but we mystery writers think like that. In spite of the fact that I immediately claimed ‘dibs’ on her kayak as mine, I would have looked for her. Seriously. I am a private investigator, and it would be pretty embarrassing to lose a friend like that. And as a mystery author, I can’t leave a story open-ended.
Alas (…er, I mean, hurray!…), she did return to report she’d found a trail and followed it through the dense forest to the other side of the island. So much for my new mystery and my new kayak. But at least I’ll have Lori to kayak with on future trips.
Campsite in Broken Islands with friends George and Lori – photo by Ian Conarch
While paddling through gentle swells, I managed to come to rest on a rock as a wave receded. No kayaker likes to hear that crunch or feel that sudden abrupt stop. I had to put my hand into the cold water and quickly push myself off the barnacle-coated rock before I got sideswiped by the next wave. Fortunately, that was the closest I came to any real danger, and all that resulted were a few new scratches to those already collected on the bottom of my kayak.
I learned that you can make an incredible horn out of a piece of bull kelp. Thanks, Ian–I’m surprised a moose didn’t swim out to join us after hearing you blast on that. It even impressed the sea lions into staying quiet for awhile.
I can’t write about outdoor adventure without experiencing it once in awhile, and this trip qualified as a good refresher for my mind and a good workout for my body. Now it’s back to the computer and to my writing.
Sunset from Clarke Island – photo by Ian Conarch
Broken Group Islands looks like a great place to paddle, where you are sitting on that beach looks like a Grizzly could come bounding out behind you, hope not tho ! Here we would have a Kangaroo hopping out and boxing you to death, no not really.
Excuse my ignorance, is Vancouver in Canada? I think it is. I have always wanted to bring my kayak and my wife from Australia to Canada. One day I will.
All the very best Steve
Yes, Steve, Vancouver Island is part of the province of British Columbia in Canada and is due west from the city of Vancouver (all very confusing, so many things are named Vancouver around here). There are no grizzlies (or other bears) in the Broken Islands, but there are deer and there have occasionally been wolves, which rather astounds me because they’d have swim out to the islands. Mostly, kayakers are in danger from high tides and occasional winds, though, not from wildlife. At least we don’t have to worry about saltwater crocs and sea snakes here on the cool west coast of North America! C’mon out!